The “reset” experience! Quand Dieu appuie sur “reset”!

I love this time of the year, because it’s a moment that many believers use to turn back to God and receive strength and direction for the months ahead.
See, the word says: Commit your work to the Lord , and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3 ESV
The same word also says :
” If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 ESV.

In the same way, we restart and recharge at the beginning of each year, there are periods of our lives when God Himself decides to hit the reset button. Many before us have gone through such periods, and many after us will, because the thing with God is that He will not do anything new with something old. To this effect, Jesus said: “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” Mark 2:22 ESV.

All of us come from an environment. Our family, our culture, our background helped mold the people that we are today. Some were blessed to have been literally born in church and to have known God all their lives, while others met God later on along the way.

Regardless of our respective paths, there comes a point in our lives, that if we truly want to know God for ourselves and have a personal encounter and covenant with Him, He will hit the reset button. God told Abraham: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1 ESV

When God hits reset, He strips us from everything that is familiar, and takes us to an unfamiliar place. He strips us from our old beliefs and doctrines, our old habits and sometimes our old friends, and takes us on a new journey of trust and faith, where the only guidance we have is the light that He himself shines before us.

Many of our fathers in the faith endured this. Joseph was forcefully taken out of the bossom of his father and sent to Egypt as a slave. Moses had to flee the palace to tend sheep in the desert for close to 40 years. David had to run away from Saul’s palace and become a wanderer right after being anointed king and defeating Goliath. Abram had to leave his past behind and set on a new journey with an unknown God. Job lost his physical health, material wealth and his family in one day…

This is a time of uncertainty, a time of self-search, a time of inner-reflection and it is often a difficult time because our faith gets tested on all levels possible. It is a time when God sits back and assess the depth of the love we profess towards him? Do we love him or the things He blesses us with?

Sometimes, like in Job’s case, it can be a time of great silence, when we don’t even know if He is still with us. Is it possible to fail? Yes. Can God hit reset again? He sure can and He sure will, because He never gives up on us. His love is big enough to give us countless second chances. See, God never takes us through something that He knows we cannot overcome. He built us in the first place and know us better than we know ourselves. God hitting reset does not mean that all that happened before is being thrown away. Let’s remember that He is the Potter and we are the clay: “So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” Jeremiah 18:3‭-‬4 ESV.
Notice that the clay gets spoiled into the Potter’s hands, but He does not throw it away when it gets spoiled, He simply turns it into something new.

God is well aware of everything that happens to us. He uses the good, the bad and the ugly and simply breaks it down and creates a new and more powerful vessel out of of it. Trials, tribulations, misteps and falls are not there to destroy us. They make us richer and stronger.

If you are going through a reset experience, fear no more and fight no more. Just surrender to His will and watch Him transform your life in ways you would have never thought possible or imaginable! There is light a the end of the tunnel. In the end, Joseph became Prince of Egypt, Moses parted the red sea and delivered Israel from bondage, David became king over Israel and Judah and his kingdom is established forever through Christ, Abram became Abraham, the father of faith and Job received double for all his trouble. God is also about to remember you.

3 replies

Thanks for those powerful words! Surely the time of reset is not always easy but yes He said we shall prevail because it is with us. Thank for encouraging us to stay focus and stay up…
I pray for all who are going throughout such as of time, they will overcome by the name of Jesus!

Author

Dr. Annick Nago-Adjei is a petroleum engineer by profession. She holds a PhD in Petroleum engineering from the Pennsylvania State University, and has been in academia and in the oil & gas industry for close to 10 years.
Writing has always been a passion of hers and she has decided to put together this space to share her experience, her journey and her lessons learned about her faith in God and life in general. It is her desire to see this blog encourage many in their journey with God and be motivated and inspired to keep moving forward despite the challenges of life.
Dr. Annick Nago-Adjei is originally from the Ivory Coast. She is married to Rev. Emmanuel Adjei, who is currently the lead pastor of Prayer Palace in Accra, Ghana and founder of EA Outreach Ministries, which has impacted more than 28 nations with the JERICHO annual conferences. They are parents to two wonderful daughters.